The terror attacks in Paris make us realize that freedom of speech cannot be taken for granted. What happened in Paris can happen in any of our cities, including Chicago. Of course most Muslims are personally against violence and intolerance, but they are irrelevant in our ongoing war with Islamist extremists. The fact is that the radicals set the agenda, and unfortunately, moderate Muslims are often fearful to show personal opposition to the larger, more radical agenda of Islam because they fear being accused of “siding with the enemy” or “falling into apostasy.”

Virtually all Muslim terror groups—ISIS, Boko Haram, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, etc.—quote the Quran and the Hadith (a second authoritative book for Islam) to justify their brutality and desire for world-wide conquest. We hope that moderate Muslims will explain to these groups (and to all the rest of the Muslim world) why the many violent passages in these authoritative writings do not apply today. I hope there is a debate going in the Muslim world as to whether these violent passages should have preeminence over some of the more moderate passages in these writings.

This deserves a longer discussion, but I encourage you to pray for your Muslim neighbors and for the wider Muslim world, that there would be a clear recognition that the root cause of radicalism must be addressed. Most of all, let us show them the love of Christ and the beauty of a Savior who actually can save us from our sins.